Becoming American is an in depth series studying the immigration experience in America. This special six -week public programming event will feature a documentary film presentation and a moderated discussion led by Bill Westerman, PhD. The series is designed to encourage an informed discussion of immigration issues set against the backdrop of our immigration history.
Welcome To Shelbyville is a story set in a small town in the middle of “America’s Bible Belt”. Shelbyville undergoes a break neck demographic change and with it, the onslaught of issues of resulting from this new integration and the complex lives of the African American, Latino, White and Somali residents. Filmed during the 2008 Presidential election, the film captures the deeply complex lives of a small, culturally diverse, middle America town dealing with race and culture barriers and the efforts made to overcome them.
This important collaboration, made possible by a grant from City-Lore through the National Endowment for the Humanities:Exploring the Human Endeavor, the Folk Life Center at Perkins for the Arts and the Burlington County Library System, will shed great light on the history of immigration in our country and how it had impacted the culture of our ancestors as well as the communities we live in today.
For further information, please contact Karen Abdul-Malik, Director, Folk Life Center at the Perkins Center for the Arts 856 235 6488.
All programs are free, open to the public and will begin at 6:30PM.